Identification of human T-cell receptors with optimal affinity to cancer antigens using antigen-negative humanized mice

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Item Type:	Article
Title:	Identification of human T-cell receptors with optimal affinity to cancer antigens using antigen-negative humanized mice
Creators Name:	Obenaus, M., Leitão, C., Leisegang, M., Chen, X., Gavvovidis, I., van der Bruggen, P., Uckert, W., Schendel, D.J. and Blankenstein, T.
Abstract:	Identifying T-cell receptors (TCRs) that bind tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) with optimal affinity is a key bottleneck in the development of adoptive T-cell therapy of cancer. TAAs are unmutated self proteins, and T cells bearing high-affinity TCRs specific for such antigens are commonly deleted in the thymus. To identify optimal-affinity TCRs, we generated antigen-negative humanized mice with a diverse human TCR repertoire restricted to the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) A*02:01 (ref. 3). These mice were immunized with human TAAs, for which they are not tolerant, allowing induction of CD8+ T cells with optimal-affinity TCRs. We isolate TCRs specific for the cancer/testis (CT) antigen MAGE-A1 (ref. 4) and show that two of them have an anti-tumor effect in vivo. By comparison, human-derived TCRs have lower affinity and do not mediate substantial therapeutic effects. We also identify optimal-affinity TCRs specific for the CT antigen NY-ESO. Our humanized mouse model provides a useful tool for the generation of optimal-affinity TCRs for T-cell therapy.
Keywords:	Adoptive Immunotherapy, Binding Sites, Experimental Neoplasms, Humanized Monoclonal Antibodies, Immunoassay, Molecular Sequence Data, Neoplasm Antigens, Protein Binding, Protein Interaction Mapping, Species Specificity, T-Cell Antigen Receptors, Tumor Cell Line, Animals, Mice
Source:	Nature Biotechnology
ISSN:	1087-0156
Publisher:	Nature Publishing Group
Volume:	33
Number:	4
Page Range:	402-407
Date:	April 2015
Official Publication:	https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.3147
PubMed:	View item in PubMed

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